A/N: Here I give you the final chapter of the Baratie arc. *Bows*
As before, please refer to my profile regarding matters of an update schedule.
I don't own One Piece. There's a price tag on it that I cannot afford.
The scene at Baratie took another turn for the dramatic. After an outcry from inside, more than half a dozen diners ran out, paled with their lips flapping, and then bolted from the restaurant like they had a live fire under their ass.
Among them was Luffy, though of course the boy captain had a decidedly different kind of appreciation for the sight than those evacuating.
Usopp slipped through the wave of panicking customers almost absently.
"You see Luffy?" Zoro asked when he saw him. The swordsman remained seated, though his posture spoke of readiness to act if called upon.
"Yeah, he's fine," Usopp said, sidling up to the table. "Should be back in a minute."
Zoro grunted.
"What's going on outside? I got that there's a pirate ship, but everybody's just yelling over each other."
The sniper shrugged and took a seat.
"A galleon that looks half-dead showed up. Apparently belongs to some horrible pirate captain. Don Kringle," he said, pulling a plate toward him and digging into leftover rice. "I guess."
The doors swung inward again, and a hulking figure was halfway dragged inside. Supported under one arm by Gin, a large man sporting a gauze-wrapped head of short hair barely shuffled past the threshold. Though he bore the likeness of a man with money, complete with a gold chain around his neck, the air around him spoke of a particularly hard fall from times as a high roller.
Luffy shadowed the two inside, uncharacteristically playing the observer rather than an active participant.
"That's him!" Someone yelled, a chair upturned and tossed back in alarm. "That's Don Krieg!"
Zoro looked at Usopp as if to say 'Really?'
Usopp shrugged again.
Okay, he might have butchered that one on purpose. He had to get his kicks somewhere.
And he'd needed a little entertainment the past few days. Nightmares and projects hadn't been the only things that kept him up at night.
Krieg, all self-made amusement aside, concerned him a little as a variable. Apart from his name and his face, Krieg was basically an unknown for the sniper.
Between Sanji's introduction to their lives, Zoro's duel and the crew's first fucking Shichibukai, Krieg was sort of overshadowed in his memory. It didn't help that Usopp left Baratie to pursue Nami before Luffy had his throw down with him.
Obviously his captain won, but the details of the event got lost. Somehow, overthrowing the fishmen crew occupying Nami's island had seemed a bit more important. After that, there hadn't been much time before they were on their way to the Grand Line, where things just got too crazy on a daily basis for a casual review of events. None of his nakama had really been the type for such things anyway, unless previous adventures were relevant to the shit-show of the week. Besides, Nami, the crew's acting chronicler, ditched before any of it and-
Well. Suffice to say, Usopp didn't know what to do about Krieg. Warn someone? How? Saying what?
("There's a hundred starving men headed this way! They can barely move right now but their captain is real mean when he's not begging on his knees!")
That sentiment didn't exactly move Sanji to action the first round. Usopp might have a few new skills, but not even Nami in a bikini could persuade the chef to not feed a starving man. And the sniper wasn't suicidal enough to propose such a method anyway. Honestly, Usopp didn't harbor the sort of personal animosity toward Krieg or his crew to attack them while they were hungry, either.
Honestly, the most he could hope for by telling someone was a call to the marines. Because they'd done such a stellar job with him.
Thus, much as it chafed a bit, Usopp resolved to play things by ear.
Krieg himself didn't warrant much concern. The ulcer Usopp's anxiety likely nurtured came from knowing, in the abstract, that there were more gaps- not lapses in memory, actual gaps- in his foreknowledge that he'd have to contend with.
Usopp snapped out of his musings. Gin demanded that they be served, though desperation tinged his voice. The sniper didn't feel quite the same sympathy for the cold reception they, or specifically Krieg, received. Given the spots in his memory, he'd skimmed over details of Krieg's exploits in the papers when he looked for Kuro's wanted poster. The bastard was a two-faced, posturing fraud.
Krieg shuddered, then collapsed to his knees, prostrated himself and begged. Despite his distaste for the pirate, Usopp felt vindicated in his stance on Patty when the cook kicked Krieg and yelled for a call to the marines.
"One side, shit-chef."
One well placed kick to the temple removed Patty from the scene. Path cleared, Sanji presented a basic plate of rice, chicken and beans to the famished pirate. Of course, once it passed through Sanji's hands, food no longer qualified as 'basic'.
"Thank you!" Krieg cried between heaping handfuls.
The other cooks tore into Sanji for his mercy, though no one made a move to take Krieg's food away. Usopp narrowed his eyes. Which turned into a long, slow blink.
A bit distantly, Usopp noted that Krieg's thanks lacked a certain tinge of sincerity.
"Do you have any idea who he is?!" Carne (Yes, Usopp knew the shorter cook's name after a week) demanded. He listed Krieg's notorious exploits as the pirate captain slowly rose to his feet. No longer slumping or shuffling, he loomed.
Then, Krieg caught Sanji in a one-armed clothesline. The chef flew backward and crashed into the floor. Usopp's instincts and fight-or-flight blared, exhaustion and the tightrope walk of meted truths nearly shoving him over an edge he couldn't come back from.
'Sanji's hurt shoot him take him down!'
"Oi."
Zoro's smooth baritone and a sharp jab of his scabbard brought Usopp teetering back toward awareness. Tense and on his feet, he blinked.
'When did I move?'
"Our cook." Usopp hissed out, somehow managing brief coherency.
"Not yet," Zoro corrected him, firm and steady. "And it isn't our business until Luffy says it is."
Usopp breathed. His nerves slowly cooled and relaxed.
Zoro wouldn't lie. Zoro was the expert of whose business was whose. If he said…
Usopp glanced at Luffy, who hadn't broken out into fisticuffs or interrupted any of the action. His captain hadn't given the order.
By some miracle, no one else noticed his outburst. The adrenaline wore off, and under Zoro's watch, Usopp resumed his seat. Three parts fatigue to two parts relief
'I haven't screwed this up yet.'
And
'Zoro's here, Zoro knows, he understands, he wouldn't lie.'
Usopp sank in his chair and lay his head heavily on the tablecloth with only minimal awareness or resistance. Flagging, his brain didn't quite manage to reach the self-reprimand for his near-loss of control that would've brought him back to a state of readiness.
"Hey." Zoro said quietly.
"Not sleeping," Usopp slurred, almost petulant, his mouth on autopilot as much as his drooping eyelids. "Jus-just resting my eyes."
"Sure," Zoro said. "I'll kick you if something important"
.
.
.
.
.
Surprise Meatball Special!
"Stop yelling." Usopp murmured into his arm. Blearily, he roused himself. He'd pillowed his head with his arms at some point. One of them was pressed over his eyes. He blinked a bit of haziness away in time to see Krieg- huh, that armor couldn't have been cheap- return fire on the cooks.
Thankfully, he remained lucid of his reactions. No impulsive heroics.
"If you're gonna pass out, do it on the ship." Zoro chided him flatly, without any real sting.
"Why?" Usopp rejoined. His voice rasped a little. "Is the blowhard doing anything more than sucking wind?"
The swordsman looked at him oddly.
"You know," Usopp said, waving a hand in a vague gesture. "The typical pirate crap."
Zoro snorted.
"Then I reserve the right to tune out when and where I please, thank you." Usopp said, feigning haughtiness. He ended on a cough, his throat sore and dry.
Zoro filled a glass from a water pitcher at their table and slid the beverage across to him.
"Listening to your voice hurts," he said, eyes back on the standoff. "Drink something."
Usopp nodded his thanks. He swept his gaze across the room, taking stock.
Zeff had shown up, and he reacted to the threats on his restaurant and staff the way one might regard bird shit on a pair of pants. Unpleasant and a pain to wash out, but ultimately of no consequence.
"That's two things I'll take," Krieg said, grinning. Because apparently he wasn't done yet. "This ship, and the log book of Red-Leg Zeff!"
'A~nd,' Usopp prompted in his head. 'Zeff's next line is "Fuck you!"'
"That log is the result of my crew's sweat and blood. I may have retired from piracy, but I'm not just gonna give it away. Not to some upstart who came limping back to East Blue with his tail between his legs."
Usopp nodded, taking a sip from his glass.
'That works too.'
"I had the power! I had the ordinance, the ships and the men! I only lacked knowledge!" Krieg insisted. "With this ship and Zeff's log, I'll rebuild my armada! Nothing will be stop me from claiming the One Piece and conquering the Grand Line as Pirate King!"
Usopp went very still. He maintained a very serious expression while he absorbed the very serious pirate captain's very serious claim that he would rule the seas. Seriously.
The declaration replayed in the sniper's head.
He couldn't do it.
Usopp surrendered to the inevitable spit take and snorted. Because he'd have had an easier time making a list of pirates who wouldn't shit all over Krieg. Hell, all things considered, Usopp stood a better chance than him!
The sniper wheezed into his hand, trying to muffle coughing and snickering. Zoro reached over and gave him a hard clap on the back.
"Thanks." Usopp said softly. Thankfully, Luffy stomped up just in time to keep attention away from their table. His captain matched Krieg's claim with his own.
"This isn't a game." Krieg growled, trying and failing to stare down the smaller pirate.
"Obviously," Luffy rejoined, confident grin unwavering. "Only an idiot would go for the top half-cocked."
Krieg's face sprouted a new pulsing vein.
"Are we fighting Luffy?" Zoro asked. The crowd's attention turned to their table, where the swordsman sat with Wado's sheath over his shoulder. "You can count me in."
Usopp waved.
"On your order, Cap'n."
Luffy blinked a couple times.
"Oh, hey guys," he said, as if he'd forgotten they were in the restaurant. "Nah, I got this."
Krieg guffawed with laughter, just shy of pointing at them in derision.
"That's all you've got in your crew? Two twigs?"
"No!" Luffy retorted. "I've got two more!"
"For the umpteenth shitty time, I'm not your cook!"
'Actually,' Usopp corrected silently. 'He's got seven more- nine, including honorary members. They just don't know it yet.'
"This isn't a playground, brat!" Krieg shouted. "I had five thousand men going into the Grand Line! Inside of a week, all but a hundred of them were wiped out!"
'Ah, yes. The tried-and-true "I got spanked this hard" intimidation tactic," Usopp thought, nodding sagely. 'A classic.'
Gasps and etc. ensued, Krieg dropped some brand of ultimatum a~nd Usopp sorta stopped listening.
(His senses stirred, just a tangential rustling against the outermost circumference of his awareness. Taking it for his distinct brand of perpetual nerves, he shelved it toward the rear of his conscious thoughts.)
"Sanji," Gin said, slumped on the floor where Krieg had dropped him. "I'm so sorry. I swear, I didn't know he'd do this."
"Ah, quit moping," Zeff said gruffly. "You aren't responsible for his choices or ours. Can only make decisions for yourself, kid- so make sure you can live with them." The head chef shrugged. "Not the first time we've dealt with noisy punks."
The other cooks provided staunch opposition and vehemently questioned Zeff's choice to feed Krieg's men. Somehow, they turned the blame onto Sanji, as if it was his fault Krieg was an asshole.
"Shaddup, all of you!" Zeff shouted. "Do any of you know the agony of real hunger? The sort that saps away everything and leaves you too weak to even be angry? Sanji knows the truth of it, and I don't wanna hear a damn peep outta the rest of you on that!"
'He wouldn't be Sanji otherwise.'
Murmured confusion met Zeff's loud reprimand. He jerked his thumb toward the back door.
"Any and all whiners oughta feel free to jump ship anytime they want."
Not a single cook took the offered out. Instead, they armed themselves with oversized utensils and grit their teeth.
"Are you all mad?!" Gin exclaimed, more afraid for them than they seemed to be. Usopp wondered how such a decent guy fell in with a vile grandstander like Krieg. "Didn't you see what he can do? You have to run, you'll"
"Gin." Sanji's smooth voice cut Krieg's commander short. The well-dressed sous chef perched on a table and rolled his cigarette between his fingers. "I feed the hungry who come to me- that's my job. An empty stomach is an empty stomach." He took a drag and glared. "But your friends outside? Once they've eaten, my job's done. And if they come in here asking for a hard kick in the teeth, that's what they'll get. Even you."
Patty huffed.
"Fix 'em their final meal and stand as their executioner, eh, Sanji?"
"Drop dead, shit-chef."
Luffy grinned, bounding over to Usopp and Zoro.
"He's tough, right?" He asked, leaning into Zoro's space. "He's our cook for sure!"
Zoro grunted, all noncommittal like a bastard.
"I'm all for it, Captain." Usopp said, giving Sanji his vote of confidence.
"Shishishishi!"
Luffy turned to Gin, who remained the slumped image of dejection and twisted guilt on the floor.
"Hey, Gin! I thought you said you didn't know anything about the Grand Line! How can that be if you've been there?"
The older pirate shuddered, barely keeping his head raised as his voice went quiet.
"It's all a blur," he said, eyes haunted and distant. "We were in that ocean for a week, but I couldn't explain anything we saw. It defied all reason!"
Gin's hands shook, and his shoulders hunched. Usopp felt a little bad for him. Gin's experience had obviously shaken him through and through.
"One man," though he whispered, everyone heard him clearly. "How could one man take apart fifty ships?!"
Usopp felt a tingling thrill course up his spine as shock and horror overcame most of the staff. (That rustling came again, more frequent, a tease of his awareness that grew gradually more pronounced.)
"Sounds interesting." Zoro said, smirking, though even he seemed a little thrown.
'Sounds scary.' Usopp thought. 'And about par for the course.'
"Can't wait to get there." He murmured with a smile. To his surprise, he found he meant it- that sea called to him, promises of adventure, terror and thrill in equal measure too immense, too alluring to keep him away.
Luffy couldn't decide whether to gasp in awed respect for the perils ahead or grin in excitement, so he did both.
"I don't wanna see his face," Gin murmured, still talking as though no one had reacted. Usopp grimaced. Krieg's commander needed to do some serious soul-searching before he braved Paradise again. "I don't wanna remember that man with the hawk eyes!"
Zoro's back went rigid in his seat, all pretenses falling back.
"What'd you say?"
"Can only be Dracule Mihawk," Zeff said. "Otherwise known as 'Hawk-Eyes'."
"Mihawk." Zoro muttered, all anticipation and attention.
"You know that guy, Zoro?" Luffy asked.
"He's the reason I went out to sea," Zoro said with a little grin. "His title is what I'm after." His voice dropped. "Johnny said he could be found here."
Usopp froze. The presence he'd sensed fell into place. The sniper forced himself to maintain an outward calm. He sat up straighter, eyes unconsciously drawn toward the wall between him and the voice which towered even from a distance.
It only grew as it drew closer.
One of the cooks chuckled, and Usopp ripped his gaze back around.
"Hawk eyes? Dunno about that, but old Red Eyes sure makes a regular appearance!"
Another cook laughed.
"He's a riot! Can never figure how he manages to get here, drunk as a skunk!"
Zoro clenched his teeth.
"I could strangle him." He hissed darkly.
Meanwhile, Luffy apparently hadn't followed the frustration toward Johnny. Usopp's captain, who often needed multiple explanations for anything beyond the three fundamental F's (food, fighting and fun), cottoned on quite quickly, a glint in his eye.
"I see," he said, grinning. "He's the one Zoro needs to find."
Zoro sat back, eyes closed. When he opened them, he sported a matching grin.
"Now I finally know where to look," he said, hand on Wado's hilt. "The Grand Line!"
Sanji, who'd been eying them while they talked, scoffed.
"Fools, the lot of you," he said, puffing his cigarette with slight agitation. "You're headed straight for death."
Usopp narrowed his eyes by a millimeter.
"Maybe," Zoro conceded without a fight. "But don't mock us. I've lived for my ambition to be the greatest. If I die on the way, that's that, and I won't have any complaints."
"Me too, me too!" Luffy chimed.
Usopp bit his tongue on his knee-jerk response, even as internally he screamed
'Well I fucking will!'
"Besides," he said instead, adding his piece. "No pirate ever accomplished anything by treading water."
Zeff's mustache twitched in an approving smile.
Sanji… Usopp would've missed it had he not been looking, and the cook quickly masked it with disdain-
Envy.
Battle cries floated in from outside. The first of Krieg's men stepped onto the ship.
"Prepare to be b"
An instant before the threat, Usopp had gone stock still, hand hovering over his slingshot on instinct.
"He's here." He murmured.
Outside, Krieg's battered galleon listed and spilt apart without warning. The force responsible upset the ocean itself. The Baratie and the ships docked nearby groaned, rocking dangerously.
"Weigh anchor!" Zeff barked sharply, every inch the old hand and former pirate captain.
"The Going Merry is out there!" Luffy cried. He vaulted himself out through the exit. "The others are still on board!"
Zoro cursed and and followed. Usopp, distracted, trotted after them both. He listened with his Haki, confirming what he already knew.
'She's gone.'
He remembered, from his 'first round', that getting Merry back had superseded all other concerns.
Now, a part of him felt relieved that Nami and the caravel were well beyond the scope of potential collateral damage.
Merry may have been young and naive to the ways of the world, yet she already knew profound joy and aching sadness; burning anger and refreshing relief. Simple emotions painted the world in broad strokes of primary colors, each defined by crisp and distinct lines. Intermediates- annoyance and exasperation, mortification and mirth- more complicated, soon followed day by day, filling in the picture of her companions with new pigments, hues, tints and shades. The lines did not remain clear. Some colors bled into each other and the horizon stretched out, daunting and endless. Yet Merry absorbed it all with an eagerness and thirst for life that refused to be slaked.
Because before all that, before she even knew the sound of the ocean waves, she had been loved.
("We're going to meet a bunch of nakama out there, Merry. They'll be the best anyone could ask for.")
Usopp had spent hours talking to her before she was ready to face the sea.
And he was right. Their nakama were wonderful.
Merry did all she could to reciprocate the fondness of her passengers. She held steady when her captain took to his special seat. She rocked gently and sighed at the end of the day, soothing and encouraging sleep. When Sanji, her captain's much-sought-after cook, visited, she tried inspiring him with the same excitement that her nakama had affected in her.
In all, she did her level best to be more than just a ship. She strove to become their home.
("I know it didn't last long. But I really did have a great time!")
Merry also didn't sleep- she didn't need it. And, though Usopp didn't speak quite as openly or often with her anymore, she learned to be a very good listener.
She heard the misery behind Nami's coy farewell to the bounty hunters. Merry sensed her regret for betraying their nakama. The young caravel didn't know the full story, nor quite understand the young woman's reasons, but she didn't blame her navigator.
And if Merry happened to take her time, if her sails didn't quite catch all the wind they could- if she dallied, just a little, to give her captain and her nakama time to find her, well.
Merry didn't think Nami would blame her, either.
Usopp frowned, tracking Nami's 'voice' while Johnny and Yosaku yelled over each other to explain what happened to Luffy and Zoro.
"Damn." Zoro swore. "I knew she couldn't be trusted!"
"I can still see her," Usopp said. He could, actually, and so didn't need to out his Haki to the bounty hunters. "She's headed North, I think."
Luffy put a hand over his eyes and leaned over the railing. Usopp's hand came up and hovered just shy of Luffy's vest, ready to yank back should his captain teeter too far. Some learned reflexes transcended lifetimes, apparently.
"He's right! I can see the Merry!" Luffy exclaimed.
"What do you wanna do, Cap'n?" Usopp asked, knowing full well his answer.
"You guys," Luffy said, turning to the bounty hunter pair. "Where's your ship?"
Luffy's playful air had disappeared, and left only his Captain, all business. Even Johnny and Yosaku, who weren't crew members, recognized the shift.
"Anchored not far from here." They replied in unison.
"Zoro, Usopp," Luffy said. "Go with them on their ship and get her back!"
"Why?" Zoro asked, shrugging. "What's the point of wasting time on someone who stabbed us in the back?"
Usopp's eyebrows almost rose right off his face. Intellectually, the sniper knew they hadn't been together very long, but… Well, a Zoro who questioned any of Luffy's orders was weird.
"I won't accept anyone else as our navigator!"
Coming from someone else, and to anyone who didn't know him, Luffy's declaration would have sounded childish.
"All right, all right."
Zoro was among those fortunate few who did. He sighed.
"I chose a high maintenance captain. Usopp, help those two get ready."
The sniper, still mindful of exactly who had arrived and shaken the sea a minute ago, lingered while the bounty hunters ran to retrieve their ship.
"You staying behind?" Zoro asked Luffy, more to confirm a suspicion than anything.
"Yeah," he said. "I wanna help out. Besides, if Krieg's for real about the Grand Line, I'll have to fight him sometime."
Zoro inclined his head.
"Right. Watch yourself."
Luffy nodded.
"OH SWEET MERCIFUL KAMI, HE FOLLOWED US!"
One of Krieg's men sobbed and screamed. Everyone's attention shifted to a small, strange vessel approaching the wreck of the galleon.
A tall, thin, muscular man sat regally on board, face hidden by the brim of a cavalier hat. One of the largest swords Usopp had ever seen adorned his back.
Usopp watched his approach, wiping sweaty palms on his overalls.
Mihawk's 'voice' could only be compared to that of an apex predator. A beast magnitudes beyond any tiger, any wild animal, with such sharp claws and fangs that he could not only afford laziness, it would be expected.
"It's really true?" Zoro murmured, unfiltered awe in his voice. "He's here?"
"That's him, all right," Zeff affirmed. "That's 'Hawk-Eyes' Mihawk, the World's Greatest Swordsman!"
Driven more by numbing terror than courage, one of Krieg's men shouted. The poor guy's voice pitched high.
"You bastard! Why'd you come after us this far?!"
Mihawk, who hadn't yet stirred, lifted his gaze. Though he remained seated, he peered down his nose at the noisy pirate.
"For sport." He said. His tone suited a casual discussion of the weather on a cloudless day.
Outraged and near hysterical, Krieg's man whipped out two pistols and fired both at once. The shots were decent, despite his obvious fear. Yet, with merely a negligent motion, Mihawk pulled the huge black sword out and, without a sound of contact between bullet and blade, redirected both shots.
Only a few present actually witnessed his finesse. Krieg's man fell on his ass, sputtering in horrified shock.
"He deflected them." Zoro said. With all the focus on Mihawk, the swordsman had jumped to the fairly intact and level portion of the galleon.
Usopp swallowed. As a marksman, Mihawk's ability to effortlessly influence a shot's trajectory would be a nightmare to deal with. He followed Luffy to join the bounty hunters on their ship, closer to their crew mate.
"I've never seen a sword used so subtly." Zoro said.
"A sword without subtlety is not a sword." Mihawk returned.
"You cut this galleon with that blade?"
"I did."
"I see," Zoro said, grin eager and anticipating. "You really are the greatest." He slipped his bandana off his arm. "I set out to sea just to find you."
"Why?" Mihawk asked, tone still closer to bored than neutral.
A buzz passed through the crowd. With proper attention on him, people had recognized Zoro.
"To surpass the greatest." Zoro answered. He tied the black bandana tight over his head. There wasn't to be any foreplay. "You said you were looking for sport, right? Fight me."
Usopp forced both his hands open and gripped the lip of the boat, physically anchoring himself. He wanted to call out, say any number of things-
'This is not the time to test any training!'
'You're not ready for this yet!'
'I'll kill you myself before I let you die, you bastard!'
Usopp also had an impulse to describe, in vivid detail, the creative torments he'd perform against the Shichibukai if he killed Zoro.
A completely suicidal and entirely unrealistic impulse, he realized, but Usopp had never been wanting for imagination.
"Weak." Mihawk said dismissively. Nonetheless, he rose to his feet in answer to the challenge. "If you had any skill at all, you'd recognize the vast difference between us. Is it confidence that gives you courage, or ignorance?"
"Neither." Zoro rejoined evenly. He secured Wado's hilt in his mouth, and took one sword in each hand. "It comes from ambition and a promise."
Usopp's nerves sat on edge, beyond combat-ready at the sight of his nakama facing off with a Shichibukai alone. The sniper bit his lip and glanced back. Johnny and Yosaku were clearly conflicted, worry warring with the need to support their Zoro-aniki. Usopp turned to Luffy.
"Captain?"
Luffy stood unusually still, silent and attentive.
Usopp hadn't been counting on him to interfere. Really, could he have brought himself to do different?
'No.'
He shook his head. Trying to stop the fight would be disrespectful to all that Zoro stood for. The sniper turned back to the imminent dueling arena.
He blinked, startled by what he saw. Mihawk leapt across to the flat stretch of flotsam.
Usopp shuddered, passing it off as coincidence.
'Why would Mihawk have been looking at me?'
Nami watched the Baratie shrink in the distance from Going Merry's stern.
"Once everything's settled," she murmured. "If we saw each other afterward, would they let me sail with them again? Be their navigator?"
Luffy, with that grin that took up half his face and his stupidly infectious laughter, popped into her head. She smiled a watery smile- it was hard to reconcile his image with a word like 'unforgiving'.
Not that she really deserved anything less.
She sighed wistfully.
"It's nice to dream, I guess."
Out of sight and alone, she let herself cry. She closed her eyes, calling to mind the scent of tangerines and cigarette smoke. A bittersweet comfort, one that came packaged with complicated and emotional memories, but she had little else.
Clink.
Nami sniffled and looked down. She'd gotten used to carrying her collapsible staff in her blouse. Usopp's Climatact was a bit heavier though, and it didn't sit quite the same.
Wiping her face, she pulled out all three components. She held two in one hand, absently twirling the third in the other. After a moment, she retrieved the instruction sheet and brought it back up to the deck. Mostly it encouraged her to feel things out and trust her intuition, though it did offer a few concrete directions for combat use.
Nami checked the sky- heading was fine. She had a couple days.
"Okay," she said, snapping the pieces together into a whole. "Let's try this out."
Zoro pared his focus down until he couldn't hear the crowd. The pirates, the cooks, even his crew- all their voices became white noise, and he sharpened his senses further until that too faded away. Their presence still reached him, if only tangentially. He'd know if someone interrupted before he settled things. One way or the other.
He'd kill them himself if they did.
His eyes, ears and instincts- they were for Mihawk.
The master swordsman touched the cross around his neck. He pulled out a hidden blade, barely a step up from a butter knife.
"What's that for?"
"Only a fool brings a battleship to hunt a frog," Mihawk said, almost in a drawl. "Your reputation merely makes you a large fish in a small pond. As the weakest of the four seas, East Blue is more of a puddle."
He waved the tiny knife in his hand with a pitying expression.
"Even this will be excessive, but it's the smallest I have."
Zoro's temper flared, and he clenched his teeth around Wado, growling. He forced out a hissing breath. His perspective had been broadened recently, so he didn't explode as he might have otherwise.
Still, he wasn't the type to stand idle and weather insults.
"Mock me all you want," he said, crouching. "Just don't complain when I kill you!"
He charged.
Mihawk heaved a put-upon sigh.
Onigiri!
Zoro slashed with all three blades in one, unified motion. His most perfected technique, one that had ended over a hundred battles before, drove toward his opponent.
And, when the intersecting midpoint of his three swords met the tip of Mihawk's dagger, Zoro came to a screeching halt.
"Ugh."
Zoro grunted. His muscles strained, veins throbbing in his neck and arms as he applied more pressure. His swords shivered.
Mihawk's knife didn't so much as twitch. The man himself gave no sign of being put out.
'I don't believe it.'
A sort of desperation leaked into Zoro's determined anger, a catalyst in a compound that turned volatile.
'The scales can't be this different,' he thought, pulling his blades back sharply for another attack. 'The world can't be that enormous!'
He tore his way forward, slashing and cutting with a thinly reined fervor.
Mihawk parried every strike with no visible effort. His expression never changed.
"Such ferocity." He commented mildly.
Zoro lunged again. He overstepped. Mihawk sidestepped the charge and tripped the younger swordsman with his foot. He struck the back of Zoro's neck with a swift chop of his hand.
Zoro gasped, equilibrium lost for an instant. Wado almost fell from his mouth. He breathed harshly, clamped his teeth again and threw his back leg forward. He pivoted for another assault.
"What drives you, little frog?" Mihawk asked, with only idle curiosity. As though casual conversation was normal during a high-stakes duel. The fact that he didn't even bother to add condescension to his tone made it worse. "Why fight so strenuously when you cannot win?"
'Am I really just a little frog?'
Zoro's concentration lapsed- he forgot to control and measure his breathing.
He drove on, off balance.
Kuina's eternally young face flashed across his mind's eye.
"It's a promise!"
Johnny and Yosaku, earnest despite meager skills.
"We've been inspired by your strength!"
"We'd like to travel with you!"
A man in a straw hat who didn't laugh at his ambition.
"That's perfect! The Pirate King can't settle for less than the World's Greatest Swordsman as a crew mate!"
Tora…
Zoro glowered, kicking off his toes in a wild rush.
'I will not disappoint them!'
Gari!
Shnk.
"ANIKI!"
Johnny and Yosaku cried out like they'd taken the knife themselves. A diametrical counterpoint to Zoro's stoicism.
Usopp only heard them in the barest sense of the word, their concern at the dead end of his peripheral awareness. His hands tightened on the boat's rim like the sole tether grounding his sanity. The wood whined in protest under his grip. His fingers dug grooves into the woodwork, pieces splintering off.
The sniper had been racing through rationalization like a mantra since the duel began.
'It's a duel, there are rules, he's Zoro, he's alive, he's fine, it's a duel…'
Usopp knew the rules. He knew the code of honor, because they were pirates, and the consequences for interfering were lethal. The worst would be that Zoro would personally insist on meting out punishment. His mantra, on some level, did hold water, and part of him accepted that.
Except that rationalization, that voice, sounded very quiet at the moment, and he questioned it a little more with each repetition. Another voice, warring in his head, grew almost overwhelming, urging
'Run. Getaway getaway GET AWAY from him! Shoot with intent, aim for the eyes, distract, hide, run!'
Because Usopp saw details now that he didn't the first time. His eyes had only gotten sharper, and he knew what to look for. He could follow the arc of Zoro's blades. He could see the minimal movement in Mihawk's form, all while deflecting every strike with a fucking toothpick.
The Shichibukai dismantled Zoro's fierce attacks casually.
He understood the scales that his nakama didn't yet. Zoro had challenged a real life monster, one that could look down his nose at actual giants from the ground.
"Usopp."
Luffy's voice broke straight through the mess in Usopp's mind. The rubber man didn't take his eyes off the fight. His shaking fists, rigid posture and intense air gave away his own agitation.
Yet Luffy hadn't shouted. He didn't hiss through clenched teeth, or move to physically restrain the marksman the way he had the bounty hunters minutes ago. For all that he had to be worried, had to be furious that his swordsman got hurt, Luffy maintained control.
Usopp's Captain gave him an order, delivered it with cool neutrality.
"Do not interfere."
Usopp swallowed, cowed and awed anew by the man he followed.
"Aye," he said tightly. "Captain."
"Unrgh…"
Zoro's arms hung at his side. He'd left an opening, swung too wide. His opponent took the opportunity, as he ought, and buried the knife in his chest.
Or maybe he didn't make a mistake in his form. Maybe Mihawk was just that skilled.
'Probably the latter.' Zoro conceded.
"Why do you not retreat?"
Breathing more through his nose than his mouth
(The familiar taste of iron seeped out, warmth dripping from his chin)
Zoro used Mihawk's voice to ground himself. He focused on his opponent's face.
His expression had changed- not a marked difference, yet Zoro saw confusion.
"I could pierce your heart with a simple flick of my wrist," Mihawk said. "Why don't you step back?"
"Who knows."
Zoro's answer spilled into the charged air without much thought. He took a measured breath.
"I couldn't tell you. I just have a feeling that the gap will grow wider and deeper. And if I let that happen, I'll have failed- myself and the people who matter."
Zoro narrowed his eyes, grip tightening on his swords.
"Because my promises- my word- will be worthless."
Mihawk inclined his head.
"Yes," he agreed. "That is defeat."
Zoro chuckled with a rasp.
"I can't back down. Not one step."
"And should you die?"
Zoro grinned.
"I prefer death to defeat."
Mihawk's expression changed again. A subtle thing, but as he withdrew the knife from Zoro's chest, the World's Greatest Swordsman no longer looked down his nose at him.
"Boy," he said, sheathing the knife. "Give me your name."
Zoro released a heavy breath. His swords clanked as he brought them together in a windmill formation.
"Roronoa Zoro."
"Roronoa Zoro," Mihawk repeated quietly. He drew out the huge black blade on his back. "I shall engrave it in my memory. I misjudged the strength and quality of your character. In recognition of your resolve, I shall cut you down with Yoru, the finest and strongest sword in the world."
Zoro nodded to acknowledge the honor.
"I appreciate that."
The swords in each of his hands spun, rotation gaining speed until they were indiscernible from a blur to the average onlooker. Zoro bent his knees, steeling himself for his final attempt.
Santoryuu Ougi: Sanzen Sekai!
One moment. One charge. One clash.
Silence.
Crack.
Two of Zoro's swords shattered at the same time that a cut split open on his chest.
'It's over.'
Zoro sighed and returned Kuina's katana to its white sheath.
'The strongest swordsman with the strongest blade.'
He swiveled around on his feet, arms spread out wide.
"What"
Zoro grinned again, grim and accepting.
"Wounds on the back are a swordsman's shame!"
For the first time, Mihawk smiled.
"Outstanding."
With one stroke, he slashed a deep wound from shoulder to hip.
"ZORO!"
Luffy roared. The rubber captain released his iron self-control as the duel concluded. Zoro fell backward, unconscious, into the ocean. Usopp wrenched his hands from the boat's lip, tearing away slivers and chunks with them. He barreled over Johnny and Yosaku in his rush, barely biting out "get-the-fucking-gauze" before he shoved them back.
The sniper had one foot on the rim, ready to leap from it and swim for his nakama like a mad bastard, when Sanji's voice rang out.
"Dumbass," the cook spat, voice rising to a shout. "Is your stupid dream worth it? Just give up already!"
Usopp went dangerously still. He snarled, mind thrown back into a prior lifetime.
Focused as he was on retrieving Zoro, the flash of black rage only lasted an instant. He dove into the water, unaware of the slip in his emotional control or the impact he'd made.
"Everyone, meet your new bunkmate. Natan D. Raki. Treat him well."
Usopp couldn't muster the energy to look up from his corner when Magellan introduced a fresh face.
He was beyond caring.
"Oi, oi, Warden."
The newcomer liked to talk, apparently.
"Where's the administrative suite and complimentary concubines you promised me?"
Cocksure and smug. He wouldn't last long.
"Wow, a real life celebrity! God Usopp, former sniper of the Straw Hats!"
Great. The newbie was going to share Usopp's cell. The marksman barely twitched at his moniker.
"Funny thing, to find God in Hell! Guess that makes you the last of your crew, huh?"
"You're too damn chatty," someone said. Annoyance, not kindness, made him speak up. "Shut the hell up."
"Hey, I'm just having a good time," Natan argued. "Gotta make our own fun down here, don't we? Besides, it's not like the Straw Hats were really hot shit anyway. What's he doing in such an exclusive spot?"
The implied insult to Usopp's nakama earned Natan a tired glare. He even raised his head to do it.
"He lives!" Natan gasped theatrically. "Say, I got some cheery news for you, my friend," he said with a shit-eating grin completely unworthy of any trust. "The government edits out certain details from the papers, you know? Bullshit, most of what they print nowadays."
Usopp narrowed his eyes by a millimeter.
"That santoryuu guy, Zoro- word from the underworld is that Mihawk showed up when your guy had his big last stand. Went against Akainu's orders and everything, just for a fight. They both got toasted, and guess what? Your man outlived Mihawk by a few minutes!"
Usopp let his head fall back to the floor. Hearsay didn't interest him anymore, and after so long, new 'facts' were liable to be exaggerations. He'd grown too jaded, and he knew in his bones that none of his nakama were left anyway. What else mattered?
"I guess Zoro actually got to be the World's Greatest Swordsman for a few glorious moments before he croaked!"
That got Usopp's attention.
Despite the restraints that kept his hands locked behind his back, Usopp pushed to his feet.
Natan, bored with the unresponsive sniper, had turned his grating grin away to find a new target.
The newbie didn't see Usopp until the sniper bit into his neck.
"AGH! Get off, get OFF! He's fucking biting me!"
Natan writhed and thrashed and eventually threw the smaller marksman off him. The others, driven by primal instincts at the sight of blood, kicked up a din. Magellan yelled for order. Usopp ignored all of it in favor of pinning Natan with a glower.
"Don't ever mock Zoro like that again," he growled. "He would never accept such a cheap victory. He's too honest."
The larger, bulkier criminal balked at the hostility radiating from Usopp. The crimson in his mouth from where he'd drawn blood only made his visage more terrifying.
"If you ever mock my nakama's ambition again," he said lowly. "I don't care if you're bigger than me, or stronger than me, or what's put in my way- I'll kill you."
For the first time since he arrived, Natan was silent.
Zeff rubbed his chin, rapidly reassessing his estimation of Sanji's new crew mates. (The matter was, in the head chef's mind, a foregone conclusion.)
Going up against Mihawk and coming out the other side of a duel with his respect was unprecedented for an East Blue rookie. And it took another breed of willpower entirely to watch your swordsman face down certain death without interfering, bound by the code of honor or not. The straw hat brat didn't hesitate to literally throw himself at Mihawk once the duel ended, either.
Once again, however, the Pinocchio sniper kid took the damn prize for surprises. Zeff could tell he had experience the other rookies didn't. The old hand even suspected he'd seen the Grand Line before.
Now?
Now he had confirmation.
Because, regardless of what provoked it, the fact remained that Usopp had leaked out almost tangible Intent. Un-targeted, maybe, or at least not directed toward anyone Zeff could see. Though, really, that only made the feat more impressive. The level of focus required to dole out Intent that others could feel (Zeff checked- no unconscious staff or pirates, so he didn't need to worry about that) didn't come naturally.
It was the sort of focus necessary for Haki.
Zeff considered himself a credible old man who'd seen incredible things. He might be persuaded to believe a lot of things. A rookie with Haki mastery of any kind, coming from East Blue?
'That kid,' he thought, watching the sniper resurface with the swordsman. 'Has been places.'
"C'mon, c'mon, keeping breathing, you bastard." Usopp muttered hotly. He snatched a knife out of his satchel and tugged Zoro's shirt away from the wound. Without time to be mindful of causing more pain, he yanked it upward and tore it apart. Where the hell was the alcohol?
"HEY!" He shouted at Yosaku, well aware that his tone could cut through bone and not caring. The bounty hunter, teary-eyed, moved far too slow for the sniper's liking. Johnny slid in beside them with a spool of thread and bandages. "Move already! No, don't- just hand it over, now!"
"Usopp!" Luffy called from the makeshift battlefield where Mihawk still stood. "Is he okay?"
"No!" He barked, scowling at Zoro's exposed chest. He ripped his bandana off his head and soaked it in alcohol, pouring a healthy dose over the whole wound before he applied proper cleaning. "He's not okay! But he's alive, and he's gonna damn well stay that way!"
"My name is Dracule Mihawk," Mihawk said, voice raised to be heard through the shocked atmosphere. Zoro had made a name for himself in East Blue- seeing him cut down understandably left a lot of people feeling just how out of their depth they were. "Listen well. It's far too soon for you to die, young warrior. Live, survive, and experience the world! I have provided you with a glimpse of how vast it is- do not be satisfied!"
Mihawk lifted his chin and projected his voice.
"Grow, and become strong!"
Usopp shivered, though he kept his hands steady. The first time, he hadn't appreciated the weight of Mihawk's gesture- a Shichibukai giving his crew mate an endorsement, outright approval to challenge him again.
"Surpass this blade! Surpass me! I shall wait at the end for you, Roronoa Zoro!"
At his name, said swordsman coughed violently. He shuddered into consciousness.
"L-Luffy…"
Usopp hissed when he raised his katana skyward. The bounty hunter pair blubbered and begged him to keep quiet and avoid aggravating his injuries. The sniper stared hard down at his nakama.
"Can you hear me?"
"I can!" Luffy answered immediately.
"Sorry I worried you," Zoro rasped. His chest heaved, and it was a wonder his body didn't wrack with agony with every breath. "I'd disappoint you, if I can't surpass him, right?"
Gaping, stunned silence met the swordsman's question.
"I swear," Zoro choked out. "I promise," tears streamed from his eyes. "I will never lose again!"
"Aniki!"
"Until the day I beat him to become the World's Greatest Swordsman, I will not be cut down again!"
Zoro inhaled deeply and belted out the loudest shout he could muster.
"Got any complaints, King of the Pirates?!"
Luffy's face broke out into a grin. He laughed.
"Shishishishi! Nope!"
Usopp sniffed, unable to maintain his scowl.
"Dumbass," he murmured. "Always acting cool and shit."
Krieg, like an asshole with an actual death wish, chose to spoil the moment by challenging the man who'd destroyed his galleon while half-asleep.
'How fucking stupid can a man be?'
Mihawk claimed he'd already lost interest. Usopp suspected following up Zoro with Krieg would've left a bad taste in the Shichibukai's mouth. The master swordsman vanished with a flash of his black blade, leaving behind a new wave that rocked the restaurant and flotsam.
"Usopp!" Luffy yelled from his new perch hanging from Baratie's railing. "Get going!"
The sniper wanted to stay behind. He hated parting ways, even if he more or less knew that Luffy would be fine.
Yet he couldn't disobey a Captain's order.
"Okay!" He called back. He hurled the rubber boy's straw hat back to him. "We'll chase after Nami and Going Merry! You kick Krieg's ass, recruit our cook, and then we'll head for the Grand Line!"
"Yeah!"
Mihawk drifted the calm Blue waters. The brim of his hat sat low over his face. He reflected on his recent discoveries- yes, plural- unprecedented as they may have been.
Roronoa had not been the only subject of interest present.
("I'm gonna-!"
"Do not worry. I left him alive."
"?!"
"Tell me, lad, what is your goal?")
A natural question. For one who sought Mihawk's title to follow anyone- well, they must be quite remarkable. The boy had answered immediately, as though to hesitate, even at the shift in conversation, would be a sign of weakness.
("To be Pirate King."
"Hm. You walk a perilous path. One even more treacherous than surpassing me."
"So what?")
The child reacted so similarly to Mihawk's fiery-haired rival, one of the few who had once staved off his boredom. The connection could not have been missed.
Although, there was yet a third who'd drawn the swordsman's attention. He'd made note of him practically on arrival based on his presence. His countenance, while measured, spoke of experience and skill- a sort outside of Mihawk's own expertise, though no less potent for it- that Roronoa lacked.
Mihawk did, of course, notice his brief outburst. And, despite the situation, the boy retained the presence of mind to place himself between Mihawk and Roronoa. He positioned himself at an angle, too, not quite giving the Shichibukai his back and keeping him within his peripheral vision.
Such learned instincts spoke of many harsh battles fought. To say nothing of his Haki.
("And your other companion."
"?"
"The boy with the long nose. Who?"
"Usopp? He's my sniper.")
A marksman. And with his curled black locks exposed, another known face came to mind.
Mihawk let his eyelids drift downward with a slight smile.
'The future promises to be quite interesting.'